What is Rolfing?

” If you can imagine how it feels to live in a fluid, light balanced body, free of pain, stiffness & chronic stress, at ease with itself & the Earth’s gravitational field; then you will understand the goals of Rolfing®. “

— DR. IDA P. ROLF

Rolfing® is…

…a unique life transforming therapeutic intervention that removes habituated patterns like poor posture, body belief systems, repudiative stress movements, scar tissue and history living within the tissues. Also known as Structural Integration, it is a holistic system of bodywork that uses deep manipulation of the body’s soft tissue matrix called fascia along with movement education to realign and balance the body’s myofascial structure with the field of gravity.

Rolfing® focuses on the fascia, which is connective tissue fibers in the body that forms beneath the skin to attach, stabilize, enclose, and separate muscles, nerves, bones and internal organs. The Rolf Method is truly a holistic process of structural change that is meant to not only improve physical well-being, but also emotional well-being.

Rolfing® has been popular as an unconventional therapy since the 1970’s and began it’s roots with Dr. Ida P. Rolf in Esalen, Big Sur, California. Rolfing® has since spread deeper into society and gained popularity and now has five schools around the world. Rolfing once had the reputation of being very painful but the implication of new advanced techniques has drastically changed that.

What is Fascia?

Fascia is the body’s connective tissue. It is an all-encompassing and densely interwoven system of fibrous connective tissue found throughout the body. Your fascia provides a framework that covers and interpenetrates every muscle, bone, nerve, artery and vein, as well as all of our internal organs including the heart, lungs, brain and spinal cord. The fascial system is one continuous structure that exists from head to toe without interruption. Each part of the entire body is connected to every other part by the fascia — like one complex spider web. In this way, you can begin to understand how an imbalance in one area of the body can affect a completely different and seemingly unrelated part of the body.

Rolf’s First Law

Where you think it is, it probably isn’t. Keep looking.

This represents that the body distributes a problem throughout the system. Often times the pain a person is experiencing from an injury is not the place of origin. That new or old injury is attaching to an even older, deeper experience or injury.

It is my job as your Rolfer™ to use my eyes and locate the oldest event. Then I use my touch, working on the level you are available to receive at to bring consciousness and awareness to it so your system can recreate a new way of being. A new meaning. The experience of this is beyond being free from pain. It feels profoundly positive and magnificent.

We are shaped by the events that have occurred in our lives. The fall and bonk to the head on the coffee table when you were a toddler. The being made fun of by your peers in grammar school. The traumatic automobile accident. The unexpected loss of a loved one. The difficulty of dealing with an overbearing boss day in and day out.

Stress accumulates for a number of reasons. Physical stress is more obvious…the crashing into the metal mail box with an out of control bicycle when you were five. The baseball to the head as a teenager. The surgery for appendicitis in your second year of college. The sprained ankle from a few months ago.

Emotional stress is a hidden danger because it can tighten tissues continuously. We hold emotions we are not proud of or don’t like to display by contracting them. We tighten the muscles that would be involved in the expression of that feeling. All of these events shape and create conditions in the body that cause restriction until it is allowed out of the body and awareness is learned. These are the conditions that when released from the body create an opportunity for deep healing and profound transformation.

Our Relationship with Gravity

We are taught that gravity is a force. Gravity is a relationship. It’s a relationship to your body and the body of the planet.
Everything in the world adds some form of energy to the body. Integration adds energy in a way that makes a positive difference called order.

” A Rolfer™ works with gravity. He understands the gravitational pull in everything that a human being does, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from the moment he is conceived until the day the undertaker catches up with him. Gravity does not take a vacation.”

— Dr. Ida P. Rolf

For Dr. Ida P. Rolf, the idea of order is how the body organizes itself in space while bearing weight. Order is successfully established if the body can do that with resilience and without pain. Rolfers™ are trained to see remodeling distribution patterns from injuries and experiences that have reduced order and organization of weight bearing and then work towards re-establishing balance.

Mental Wellbeing

We never question the patterning that we’ve developed and absorbed over the years from our belief systems, our culture, from our religion, from our parents, bosses and peers, from our different experiences. Its part of the change you get from Rolfing®.

We unwrap those things so you can experience the world form your own point of view not someone else’s. Thinking becomes clearer. Natural expression feels better. You feel at ease in yourself. Stress is exponentially reduced. From Rolfing® your perception is changed into a better, more balanced neutral position. We work at getting the subjective accumulation from different experiences cleaned up so that you can experience life from a clear filter.

The Body is a Miracle

The miracle is that the body can adapt and distribute the strain of some extreme injuries and severely negative emotional experiences throughout the whole system. Because of this, we can limp along and effectively drag ourselves through life. None of us feel good doing it this way, but we are accomplishing the task of living with our injuries and emotional burdens very well as strong resilient lions who refuse to be defeated.

That is the miracle of human form. This is what I love and amazes me about humans. I respect how well that particular body has gotten itself through. I can’t resist the calling to get my hands in there and assist the system in recreating that negative event into an invaluable resource for growth and improved levels of happiness.

Benefits of Rolfing®

Reduction / elimination of chronic pain

Better balance, stamina, & energy levels

Deeper, easier, nourishing breathing

More quality, restful sleep

Decreased emotional pain

Efficient bodily functions

Improved sport performance

Rapid workout recovery

Improved stress management

A renewed sense of ease, grace & strength

Improved tissue health & vitality

Outperformance of your current levels

Control of your overall health

Do the things you love without any blocks

Calmness of mind, a sense of well-being

Knowledge of yourself at a deeper level

Ailments Relieved with Rolfing®

Chronic tension & tightness

Frozen Shoulder

Sciatica

Plantar Fasciitis

Nerve impingements

Migraines

Scoliosis

Joint pain stiffness or tightness

Arthritis

Sprains & strains

PTSD, ADD, ADHD, Hyperactivity

TMJ, Clicking Jaw, Lock Jaw

Sway Back or Hunch Back

Whiplash

Carpal Tunnel Syndrom

& more

Your body is ready to feel amazing. Are you?

Watch the documentary preview above for more insight into the benefits of Rolfing®.Next, book your free consultation with Nikki to experience them firsthand.